I have three girls, 6, 3, and 8 months. We have used the Signing Time programs with each of them. Our oldest was signing at about 9 months of age... things like milk, more, school, library. Our second daughter has Russell Silver Syndrome and was speech delayed. She didn't say a word until after she turned 2. But, that didn't mean that she wasn't communicating. She signed everything that she needed and it greatly reduced her frustration and ours. Luckily, our school district recognizes ASL as language and encouraged us to continue signing with her. Now, she is speaking fluently, has caught up with her peers as far as the spoken word, and is beginning to read. We owe it all to Signing Time. The combination of seeing the word, seeing the object, hearing the word spoken, and watching the sign is amazing.

I encourage you to check out the series of DVDs at signingtime.com. You might also find them at your local library for free. Either way, they are amazing!

dominiqueandmalika - AAP suggests no TV time for baby until he is 3 but it is super easy to sign. Just start learning a few that you want to teach him and just do them in front of him everytime you say the word. I have been signing "mama milk" (sign for "milk") everytime I nurse my daughter and now at 7.5 months she is already signing it, too! Signing is so beneficial to kids comm skills and mental development for their whole life. Check out the first website recommended above to look up the sign for any word you want to use. My son had about 30 signs going by the time he started talking and suddenly his vocab was mind blowing. He sounds a year or 2 older than his peers who did not use sign. He is articulate as well which is so helpful in understanding him.

I have signed with all my kids. I always start somewhere around 6 months. My oldest daughter had over 150 words by the time she was 20 months old (and over 50 signs), my second daughter less signs and less words. Kids develop at their own paces, for my family signing helped with frustrations and learning language skills.

My son has a grandmother ( my mom) who is deaf, so therefore I have been teaching him signs for as long as I can remember. It has helped me figure what he wants when he can't show me. He is 13 months and knows so much and can say plenty of words to where I understand what he's saying. Him and his Grandma communicate and he understands what she's saying to him, she did raise 2 hearing kids while not being able to hear. Signing is a great way to bond with your little one, both mom & dad.. his dad is learning with him, great way for them to bond and for his dad to learn to communicate with my mom. :) shouldn't be any problem with "holding your kid back from speaking!?"

Learning sign can boost their confidence, make them more willing to communicate and calm their tantrums, which are mostly due to lack of communication. If he can tell me his needs, I can help him fulfill those needs, and we won't need to fight about it!

We have been teaching our daughter ASL from the Baby Signing Times DVD collection since she was 10 months old. She is now 13 months old as can sign over 30 different signs and understands even more. It's amazing that without being able to speak she can communicate with us. Asking for cereal or a drink of juice is easy. I could not recommend this highly enough. And it all based on ASL, so it not confined to the home and the individual signs that are made up.

We started exposing my daughter to ASL at 4 months with a Baby Einstein "First Signs" DVD, and the Baby Signing Time DVDs at around 10 months. She recognized and replicated well over 100 signs by the time she was 15 months old, was able to communicate with us, and best of all, it was FUN. I really recommend the Baby Signing Time series especially - very useful signs, fun songs, and they have sales very often on their website. I've always heard people say, "It reduces frustration because they can tell you what they want!" Well, I don't know if I found that to be true, because sometimes even telling you that they want still means you have to tell them "no!" We had a lot of fun though, and at 2 1/2 people are constantly telling me that they can't get over how verbal and articulate my daughter is. I really feel like teaching her sings from a young age gave her a jump start in her overall verbal and communication skills.

I'm signing with my 9 month old son using Baby Signing Time, as it uses actual American Sign, rather than nonsense signs. My best friend's daughter is a year older than my son. At 12 months, after working with her mom, me, and the DVD's from age 8 months, she had signs for the following words: more, all done, food, sleep, bird, milk, water, cereal, and began speaking all of these by 14 months. Now at 21 months, she has 3 dozen signs, and a vocabulary of about 100 or so words. She has 3-4 word sentences, and her tantrums are way less than the average toddler. I'm SO using sign with Sam.

I started teaching my lo asl at 4 mo, and by 5 1/2 mo, she learned the sign for milk. She is clearly absorbing the signs I use with her every day, as she surprises me by signing new ones back unexpectedly. At 9 mo, she uses milk, dog, more, drink, bye, blanket and sleepy. I use 20 or so signs regularly, so I'm sure I'll start seeing them back from her sooner or later. I'm going to have to read up to keep ahead of her! She has just started speaking as well- mama, dada and hi, so I'm confident that it's not going to delay her speech. I just checked a bunch of books out from the library and bought my favorite. The internet on my smart phone has been helpful for spur of the naming emergencies. :-)

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